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Venezuela: Authorities must free Luis Carlos Díaz immediately

12 March 2019, 14:35 UTC

Luis Carlos Díaz, a Venezuelan journalist and defender of digital rights and freedom of expression, was arrested in Caracas on the afternoon of Monday, 11 March, by the Bolivarian Intelligence Service (SEBIN) and accused of alleged “cyber-crimes”.

“Luis Carlos Díaz has been detained solely because of his widely respected work covering the Venezuelan people’s demands to live in dignity in their country and for his denunciations of the authorities’ response to the serious human rights crisis that they are experiencing. He is a prisoner of conscience and we demand his immediate and unconditional release,” said Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas director at Amnesty International.

Last weekend, senior officials under the command of Nicolás Maduro accused Luis Carlos Díaz of being part of a “conspiracy” that led to a power outage that has affected the country for more than five days, presenting a manipulated video where they used past statements he had made about internet service outages as if he were talking about the current power cuts.

“Luis Carlos Díaz is a prisoner of conscience and we demand his immediate and unconditional release."

Since the recent power cuts began, Luis Carlos Díaz has used his prominent digital channels to publish his journalistic work analyzing and documenting the denunciations and concerns that have arisen for years about corruption, lack of investment and inefficiency of recent governments as causes of the precarious state of electricity supply in Venezuela, which has deepened the serious crisis that the country is experiencing regarding the human rights to health, food, water and sanitation.